9 1
Chapter Six Genesis Chapter One - Creation Day Two Verses 7 and 8 (God creates the Shamayim from the Mayim)
During Biblical times, the word water had a negative connotation for the Jewish people. In fact, the Hebrew word for water mayim םמ (used 520 in the Old Testament ) - comes from the root word mem , meaning chaos , which makes sense when you consider the Israelites grew up hearing that a flood of water wiped out the earth. Even the early Hebrew word for mayim was a picture of " chaotic " waves of water . In contrast, the creation account recorded in Genesis 1 presents water ( mayim ) as a critical chemical component that supports life. In Genesis 1:20 ( NKJV ) , we read of the first mention of life, and this life comes from water, "...Let the waters ( mayim ) abound with an abundan ce of living creatures...". This thought that water bring forth life is again repeated in the New Testament in John 3:1-21 when Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews is asking questions of Jesus. In verse 5 we read, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Notice here, the water birth ( physical ) comes before the Spirit birth ( spiritual ). We see the reality of this when a woman is in labor and the baby is about to be born. For nine month s , the developing baby is totally immersed in a sac of amniotic fluid composed of mostly water with dissolved electrolytes. We wait for the 'water to break' which surround s the baby until the moment of birth. In the same way, we cannot be spiritually re-born until we have first been naturally born of life giving water (mayim ).
Made with FlippingBook Converter PDF to HTML5